PURPOSE:

The purpose of this report is to request Council approval to carry over $105.7 million of continuing appropriations from Fiscal Year (FY) 2006-07 to FY 2007-08 for the City, the Redevelopment Agency, the Housing Authority, and the Parking Authority.

BACKGROUND:

In mid-June of each fiscal year, each department reviews their budgeted appropriations and submits requests for approval of manual carryovers of unencumbered funds to Financial Services � Budget.

Carryover appropriations are requested on an annual basis by the departments for a variety of reasons.  The most common reasons for manual carryover requests are for:  ongoing capital projects, delayed program implementation, continuing operations (including projects and studies such as the Domestic Violence Task Force, Starlight Bowl, Burbank Athletic Federation, etc.), and restricted dollars for a specific purpose (for example, grants awarded by the City, such as middle school grants; dollars received by the City such as Public Library Funds, Local Law Enforcement Block Grants and Drug Asset Forfeiture Funds; or, donations appropriated for a specific purpose that may cross fiscal years).

Several of the non-general fund requests are for ongoing capital projects.  These projects include the new Community Services Building project, the Robert R. Ovrom Park project and the DeBell Clubhouse Replacement project.

ANALYSIS

A summary carryover list (Exhibit A) designates each General Fund request by department, account number and name, amount requested, and a justification. This is followed by a summary of all other funds with continuing appropriation requests.

The following is a high level summary of all funds that are being requested to be carried over to FY 2007-08 from FY 2006-07:

GENERAL FUND YEAR-END ADJUSTMENTS

As part of annual year-end financial activities, staff compares actual expenditures to the budget to make sure that all funds and departments are not over budget.  For last fiscal year (FY 06-07), both safety departments have shortfalls.  The Fire Department is over by roughly $613,000; however, the department has sufficient strike team reimbursement revenue that has yet to be appropriated to cover this shortfall.  Staff recommends appropriating this reimbursement revenue to resolve the department�s year-end shortfall.  Additionally, the Police Department went over budget by roughly $447,000, primarily due to entitled leave payouts from retirements and overtime.  Staff recommends appropriating the savings realized from the new joint helicopter program to cover the budget shortfall.  Although, staff can use the accrued leave payout (formerly compensated absences) account to cover the leave payouts, staff recommends keeping that account intact in anticipation of the enhanced retirement that becomes effective later this fiscal year.

FISCAL IMPACT:

This year�s requested carryover amounts are higher than last year�s requests.  The General Fund�s requested carryover amount this year is $9.9 million while last year�s was $4.9 million.  The main difference is that staff is recommending to carryover $5 million for the OPEB (Other Post-Employment Benefits) prepayment which is expected to be deposited with CalPERS in the next few weeks.  Citywide, the requested amount for this year is $105.7 million compared to $86.5 million last year.  These carryovers do not affect the FY 2007-08 adopted budget since they are not new appropriations.

At year-end, all unencumbered appropriations revert to available fund balance and can be appropriated for other purposes.  As the Council is aware through the FY 2007-08 budget adoption process, staff continues to be mindful of Burbank�s budget challenges.  As of the writing of this report, the carryover amount is only an estimate as the balances may slightly change as financial activities in the accounts continue until the fiscal year is officially closed.

RECOMMENDATION:

Staff recommends that the City Council, the Redevelopment Agency, the Housing Authority, and the Parking Authority adopt the proposed resolutions for continuing appropriations.

Attachment:

Exhibit A � Carryover List Detail

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